1 INTRODUCTION

The laws of electromagnetic theory given by James Clerk Maxwell re-

quired a large number of equation. As year passed mathematicians, physi-
cists proposed large number of mathematical frame work for representing field
working with electromagnetic theory such as dyadics, bivectors, tensor and
Clifford Algebra also Vector notation is a more convenient tool for working
with EM theory. But these methods are too abstract. For day-to-day work
in electromagnetic for balance between concreteness and abstraction a math-
ematical framework differential form or exterior calculus developed by
Grassmann and Cartan came into action. Differential forms are expres-
sions on which integration operates. Differential form have the advantage
making the notation far easier to learn than othe mathematical framework.
It also simplifies many calculation and provide conceptual understanding of
EM theory. Differential forms establish a direct connection to geometrical
images and provide additional physical insight into electromagnetism. Since
in Vector Calculus there are two types of quantities namely vector and scalar
but in differential form there are different form.
The physical interpretation of a vector field is often implicitly contained
in the choice of operator or integral that acts on it. With differential forms,
these properties are directly evident in the type of form used to represent the
quantity.The derivative operators of vector analysis such as gradient, curl,
and divergence becomes in differential form as special cases of single operator
( exterior derivative ’d’) and generalize these concepts and their graphical
representation. It obeys simple rules that are easy to memorize and leads to
a most elegant formulation of Stokes’ theorem.To apply exterior calculus in
generalized way (not only in euclidean space but also on curved space) we
use concept of topology and differential geometry.

2 Preliminaries
2.1 Topology
Topology is the study of surface concerned with the properties of space that
are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting,
crumpling and bending, but not tearing or gluing. The most general structure
with which we work is topological space. The notion of topology will allow
us to talk about continuous functions and points neighboring a given point,
in spaces where the notion of distance and metric might be lacking.

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 2.1.1 Some Notions from Point Set Topology

The open ball in Rn , of radius , centered at a ∈ Rn is

Ba () = {x ∈ Rn | kx − ak < }

The bf closed ball is defined by

B a () = {x ∈ Rn | kx − ak ≤ }

that is, the closed ball is the open ball with its edge or boundary included.
Here we have descried explicitly the “usual” open sets in euclidean space Rn .
What do we mean by an open set in a more general space? We shall define
the notion of open set axiomatically.

Definition:- Let X be any set and T = {Ui ∈ I} denote a certain collec-

tion of subsets of X. The pair (X, T ) is topological space if T satisfies the
following requirements.
1. ∅, X ∈ T

2. If T is any (may be infinite) sub-collection of I,the family {Uj | j ∈ J}

satisfies ∪j∈J Uj ∈ T

3. If K is any finite sub-colletion of I, the family {Uk |k ∈ K} satisfies

∩k∈K Uk ∈ T
X alone is sometimes called a topological space. The Ui are called the open
sets and T is said to give a topology to X.

2.1.2 Continuous maps

Definition:- Let X and Y be a topological spaces. A map f : X → Y is
continuous if the inverse image of an open set in Y is an open set in X.

2.1.3 Neighbourhoods and Hausdorff space

Definition:- Suppose T gives a topology to X. N is a neighbourhood of a
point x ∈ X if N is a subset of X and N contains some(at least one) open set
Ui to which x belongs.(The subset N need not be an open set. If N happens
to be an open set in T , it is called an open neighbourhoods.)

Definition:- A topological space (X, T ) is a Hausdorff space if, for an

arbitrary pair of distinct points x, x0 ∈ X, their always exist neighbourhoods
Ux of x and Ux0 such that Ux ∩ Ux0 = ∅

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2.1.4 Compactness
Let (X, T ) be topological space. A family {Ai } of subsets of X called a
covering of X, if [
=X
i∈I

If all the Ai happen to be the open sets of the topology T , the covering is
called an open covering.
Definition:- Consider a set X and all possible covering of X. The set X
is compact if, for every open covering {Ui |i ∈ I}, there exists a finite subset
J of I such that {Uj |j ∈ J} is also a covering of X.
For example,the open interval (0,1), considered as subspace of R, is not
compact; we cannot extract a finite subcovering from the open covering given
by the sets Un = {x|1/n < x < 1} n = 1, 2 · · ·
On the other hand, the closed interval [0, 1] is compact space. In fact, any
subset X of Rn is compact if and only if

1. X is a closed subset of Rn

2. X is a bounded subset, that is, kxk < some number c, for all x ∈ X

Hence we need two properties of continuous maps.

“ The continuous image of a compact space is itself compact.”
“ A continuous real valued function f : G → R on a compact space G is
bounded.”

2.1.5 Connectedness
Definition:- A topological space X is connected if it cannot be written
asX = X1 ∪X2 , where X1 and X2 are both open and X1 ∩X2 = ∅. Otherwise
X is called disconnected.

2.1.6 Homeomorphisms
Since the main purpose of topology is to classify spaces, Suppose we have
several figures and ask ourselves which are equal and which are different. In
topology, we define two figures to be equivalent if it is possible to deform one
figure into the other by continuous deformation. Namely we introduce the
equivalence relation under which geometrical objects are classified according
to whether it is possible to deform one object into the other by continuous
deformation.

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 Figure 1: A coffee cup is homeomorphic to a doughnut.

Figure 2: A cube is homeomorphic to a cube.

Definition:- Let X1 and X2 be topological spaces. A map f : X1 → X2

is a homeomorphism if it is continuous and has an inverse f −1 : X2 → X1
which is also continuous. If there exists a homeomorphism between X1 and
X2 , X1 is said to be homeomorphic to X2 and vice-versa.

2.1.7 Topological invariants

One of the main problems of topology is to classify topological spaces up
to homeomorphisms. In particular, given two topological spaces X and Y
one should be able to say whether they are homeomorphic or not. However,
if X and Y have different topological invariants we can be sure that X and
Y are not homeomorphic to each other. Here topological invariants are the
quantities which are conserved under homeomorphisms.
As examples of topological invariants one can consider the number of con-
nected components, compactness, Euler characteristic etc. Finally, we can
say at most is: if two topological spaces have different topological invariants
they cannot be homeomorphic to each other.

Examples

1. An open interval is not homeomorphic to a closed one as the latter is

compact while the former is not.

2. A torus is not homeomorphic to a sphere as they have different Euler

characteristic.

3. A parabola is not homeomorphic to a hyperbola although the both

non-compact. A parabola is arcwise connected while a hyperbola is
not.

2.1.8 Euler Characteristics

The Euler characteristic is one of the most useful topological invariants. The
Euler characteristic is a topological invariant, a number that describes a
topological space’s shape or structure regardless of the way it is bent.

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 A polyhedron is a geometrical object surrounded by faces. We confine
ourselves to define the Euler Characteristics of a figure in R3 .

Definition:- Let X be a subset of R3 , which is homeomorphic to a poly-

hedron K. Then the Euler Characteristics χ(X) of X is defined by

χ(X) = V − E + F

where V, E, F are the numbers of vertices, edges, and faces in K respec-

tively.The remarkable fact that χ(X) does not depend on the choice of K
but only on X itself. The validity of this statement will be given by theorem:
The Euler characteristics χ(X) is independent of the polyhedron K as long
as K is homeomorphic to X.

Here we have noticed that the Euler characteristics is different from other
topological invariants such as compactness or connectedness in character.
Compactness and connectedness are geometrical properties of a figure or a
space while the Euler characteristics is an integer χ(X) ∈ Z

2.2 Manifold
We have learned in differential and integral calculus in the context of eu-
clidean space Rn but is not necessary to apply calculus to problems involving
curved spaces.

2.3 Vector
As we have learned about the vectors in euclidean space. In general the
presentation of vector does not work in manifold. On manifold, a vector is
defined to be a tangent vector to curve in manifold.
Take a tangent line to a curve in the x-y plane. If the curve is differen-
tiable, we may approximate the curve by

y − y(x0 ) = a(x − x0 )
dy
where a = dx |x=x0 . The tangent vectors on a manifold M generalize this
tangent line. To define a tangent vector we need a curve c : (a, b) → M and
a function f : M → R, where (a,b) is an open interval containing t = 0.
We define the tangent vector at c(0) as a directional derivative of a function

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Figure 3: A curve c and a function f define a tangent vector along the curve
in terms of the directional derivative

f(c(t)) along the curve c(t) at t = 0. The rate of change of f(c(t)) at t = 0

along the curve is
df (c(t))
|t=0
dt
In terms of local coordinate, this becomes
∂f dxµ (c(t))
|t=0
∂xµ dt
In other words,
dxµ (c(t))
   
µ ∂ µ
X=X X = |t=0
∂xµ dt
df (c(t)) µ ∂f
. We define X = X µ ∂x∂ µ as the tangent


that is, dt
|t=0 = X ∂xµ

vector to M at p = c(0) along the direction given by the curve c(t).

All the tangent vectors at p, form a vector space called the tangent
space of M at p. Evidently,eµ = ∂x∂ µ are the basis vectors of tangent space
and dimension of tangent space will be equal to dimension of M.
The basis{eµ } is called the coordinate basis.

2.4 Linear Functional and the Dual Spaces

Defintition: A linear functional α on E is a real valued linear function
α that is, a linear transformation α : E → R from E to the 1- dimensional
vector space R. Thus
α(av + bw) = aα(v) + bα(w)
By induction, we have, for any basis e
α Σej v j = Σα(ej )v j ⇒ α(v) = Σaj v j

where aj = α(e)

Definition: The collection of all linear functionals α on a vector space

E form a new vector E ∗ , the dual space to E, under the operations
(α + β) (v) = α(v) + β(v), α, β ∈ E ∗ , v∈E (1)
(cα) (v) = cα (v) c∈R (2)

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 Here, if E is n-dimensional, then so is E ∗ .
If e1 , · · · , en is a basis of E, we define the dual basis σ 1 , · · · , σ n of E ∗ by
first putting
σ j (ej ) = δji
and then exending σ by linearity that is
!
X X X
σi ej v j = σ i (ej )v j = δji v j = v i
j j j

Thus σ i is the linear functional that reaeds off the ith component of each
vector v .

2.5 The Differential of a Function

Defition: The dual space M n∗ to the tangent space M n at a point of a
manifold is called the cotangent space.

Definition: Let f : M n → R. The differential of f at p, written df, is

the linear functional df : M n → R defined by

df (v) = vp (f )
∂
df is independent of any basis. In local coordinates, ej = ∂xj
defines a basis
for M n and X  X
∂ ∂f
df vj j = v j (p) j (p)
∂x ∂x
is clearly a linear function of the components of v. In particular, we may
consider the differential of a coordinate function, say xi

∂xi
 
i ∂
dx = = δji (3)
∂xj ∂xj
!  
i
X
j ∂ X
j i ∂
dx v j
= v dx j
= vi (4)
j
∂x j
∂x

Thus, for each i, the linear functional dxi reads off the ith component of any
vector v. In other words
σ i = dxi
yields, for i = 1, · · · , n,he dual basis to the coordinate basis.dx1 , · · · , dxn
form a basis for the cotangent space M n∗ .

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 A linear functional α : M n → R is called a covariant vector, or cov-
ector, or 1-form. A differentiable assignment of a covector to each point of
an open set in M n is locally of the form
X
α= aj (x)dxj
j

and would be called a covector field.

2.6 Scalar Product(Inner Product)

We consider an element(cotangent vector) ω = ωµ dxµ of cotangent or dual
space and a vector V = V µ ∂x∂ µ . The inner product h, i : T ∗ M × T M → R is
define by
∂
hω, V i = ωµ V ν hdxµ , ν i = ωµ V ν δνµ = ωµ V µ
∂x
Note that the inner product is defined between a vector and dual vector and
not between two vectors or two dual vectors.

2.7 Tesors
A tensor of type (q,r) is a multilinear object which maps q elements of T ∗ M
and r elements of TM to a real number. Trq (M ) denotes the set of type (q,r)
tensors at p ∈ M . An element of Trq (M ) is written in terms of the bases as
∂ ∂
T = Tνµ11,···
,··· ,µq
,νr µ
, · · · , µq dxν1 · · · dxνr
∂x 1 ∂x

2.8 Exterior Product(Wedge Product)

We define wedge product ∧ of r one - form by totally anti symmetric tensor
product given as following
X
dxµ1 ∧ dxµ2 ∧ · · · ∧ dxµr = sgn(P )dxµP (1) ∧ dxµP (2) ∧ · · · ∧ dxµ−P (r)
P

Examples:
dxµ ∧ dxν = dxµ ⊗ dxν − dxν ⊗ dxµ (5)

dx∧ ∧ dxµ ∧ dxν = dx∧ ⊗ dxµ ⊗ dxν + dxν ⊗ dx∧ ⊗ dxµ + dxµ ⊗ dxν ⊗ dx∧
− dx∧ ⊗ dxν ⊗ dxµ − dxµ ⊗ dxµ ⊗ dx∧ − dxµ ⊗ dx∧ ⊗ dxν

If some index µ appears at least twice, dxµ1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxµr = 0

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2.9 Differential Form
A differential form of order r is a totally anti symmetric tensor of type(0,r).
In general r-forms can be written as following
1
ω= ωµ µ ···µ dxµ1 ∧ dxµ2 ∧ · · · ∧ dxµr
r! 1 2 r
where ωµ1 µ2 ···µr are taken totally
anti- symmetric,reflecting the anti-symmetry
of the basis.Since there are mr (where m is dimension of manifold) choices
of the set (µ1 , µ2 , · · · , µr ) out of (1, 2, · · · , m), the dimension of the vector
space Ωrp (M ) is
 
m m!
=
r (m − r)!r!
If r exceeds m, it vanishes identically since some index appears at least twice
in the anti- symmetrized summation.

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 Differential forms that represent electromagnetic fields and sources with
units and the corresponding vector quantities.

2.10 Graphical Representation of Forms

The exterior product of a q-form and an r-form ∧ : Ωqp (M ) × Ωrp (M ) →

Ωq+r q r
p (M ).Let ω ∈ Ωp (M ) and ξ ∈ Ωp (M ) then

1 X
(ω∧ξ)(V1 , · · · , Vq+r ) = sgn(P )ω(VP (1) , · · · , VP (q) )ξ(VP (q+1) , · · · , VP (q+r) )
q!r! P
(6)
From this we conclude that

ξ∧ξ =0 if qisodd (7)

ξ ∧ η = (−1)qr η ∧ ξ (8)

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2.11 Exterior Derivative
The exterior derivative d is a map Ωr (M ) → Ωr+1 (M ) whose action on an
r-form
1
ω = ωµ1 ,··· ,µr dxµ1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxµr
r!
is defined by
 
1 ∂
dω = ωµ ···µ dxν ∧ dxµ1 ∧ · · · ∧ dxµr
r! ∂xν 1 r

or simply d operator can be denoted by

d ≡ dxµ ∂µ

This shows that the operator d increase the form by one.

Examples in R3
Let α = a1 dx + a2 dy + a3 dz then

dα = da1 ∧ dx + da2 ∧ dy + da3 ∧ dz

      
∂a1 ∂a1 ∂a1
= dx + dy + dz ∧ dx
∂x ∂y ∂z
      
∂a2 ∂a2 ∂a2
+ dx + dy + dz ∧ dy
∂x ∂y ∂z
      
∂a3 ∂a3 ∂a3
+ dx + dy + dz ∧ dz
∂x ∂y ∂z
= (∂y a3 − ∂z a2 ) dy ∧ dz + (∂z a1 − ∂x a3 ) dz ∧ dx
+ (∂x a2 − ∂y a1 ) dx ∧ dy

In cartesian coordinates the components are the components of the curl of

the vector A
d (A · dx) = (curlA) · dS
The action of d in three dimension is
∂f ∂f
(i) dω0 = ∂x
dx + dy + ∂f
∂y  ∂z
dz
  
∂ωy ∂ωx ∂ωy
+ ∂ω ∂ωx ∂ωz


(ii)dω1 = ∂x
− ∂y
dx ∧ dy ∂y
z
− ∂z
dy ∧ dz + ∂z
− ∂x
dz ∧ dx
 
∂ωyz
(iii)dω2 = ∂x
+ ∂ωzx
∂y
+ ∂ω∂zxy dx ∧ dy ∧ dz
(iv)dω3 = 0

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This shows that action of d on ω0 is identified with ‘grad’, on ω1 with ‘rot’
and on ω2 with ‘div’ in the usual vector calculus.

Properties of differential operator ‘d’:-

(i) d is additive, d(α + β) = dα + dβ

(ii) dα0 is the usual differential of the function α0
(iii) d(αp ∧ β q ) = dαp ∧ β q + (−1)p αp ∧ dβ q
(iv) d2 α = d(dα) = 0, for all forms α

2.12 Interior Product and Lie derivative of form

The interior product iX : Ωr (M ) → Ωr−1 (M ) where X ∈ χ(M ) .For
ω ∈ Ωr (M ), we define

iX ω(X1 , · · · , Xr−1 ) ≡ ω(X, X1 , · · · , Xr−1 )

For X = X µ ∂x∂ µ and ω = 1

ω
r! µ1 µ2 ···µr
dxµ1 ∧ dxµ2 ∧ · · · ∧ dxµr we have

1
iX ω = X ν ωνµ2 ···µr dxµ2 ∧ · · · ∧ dxµr (9)
(r − 1)!
r
1 X µs
= X ωµ1 ···µs ···µr (−1)s−1 dxµ1 ∧ · · · ∧ dx
d µs ∧ · · · dxµr (10)
r! s=1

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